


Black Widows

by priestessamy



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21653788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/priestessamy/pseuds/priestessamy
Summary: The death of Effie's husband brings some unexpected changes to her life.
Relationships: Lilith/Efink Murderdeath
Comments: 7
Kudos: 49





	Black Widows

It was strange, the number of times Lilith had been in this house, she never expected to be here for the reception after a funeral. Much less for poor Percival. The man was...

Hm. Well, words were difficult. If nothing else, you could say that the man was true to himself. He was a good old boy, humble, and he hunted pretty much constantly. But it had always mystified her how someone like that ended up with a woman like Effie.

Effie, who was so incredibly smart and thoughtful. A good friend and a talented human being. And yes, maybe once or twice, she got a tiny bit jealous. And somewhere deep in her devious mind, she realized that her best friend was now single. Not that she would ever dare take advantage of her or anything. But the thought was there.

As the crowd of supporters and mourners dispersed, it was soon just the two of them. Lilith was helping Effie with clean-up – taking out trash, cleaning up dishes, putting away all the various food that had been left for her by well-meaning visitors.

When there was nothing left to distract them, the two women collapsed on her fine leather couch with a bottle of wine. Lilith decided to approach a topic that had been eating at her all night. “Effie darling... I don't mean to sound judgmental for the way that you mourn. But I can't help noticing you have been practically walking on air all day. No crying, not even looking especially sad.” She just shrugged her shoulders and took a nice long drink from her wine glass. “Not that I'm judging. Everybody grieves in their own way.”

Effie got a wry smile, sighing softly and even rolling her eyes a little bit. “Yes. I suppose I can't really hide much from you, can I? You always were the observant type.” She joined Lilith in drinking wine in silence for a moment. “I feel... free.”

Well, she was certainly intrigued now. “He was never a bad man, was he? I feel as though you would have told me, at some point. Sure, he was a total idiot, but not bad.” Suddenly, their cups were empty, and Lilith was quick on the draw to get them filled right back up.

“That's just the problem though, isn't it? When someone is a right bastard, or abusive, or violent, or an alcoholic... You can break it off and feel okay about it. How do you end a marriage when it just feels like you had no idea you were getting a... a faulty product! How can you reasonably ask for a divorce in a situation like that?” Effie stared off into space for a moment, swirling her wine around, seemingly deep in thought. “Can I tell you something awful? Like really, truly, criminally awful?”

Foolishly, Lilith assumed that her friend was just being hyperbolic. “Tell away.”

“It's true that I was there in the bed with him when he had that heart attack. Right there in the middle of the night. But... I didn't sleep through it. I was... awake. I could have called 911. But I didn't. Just... lay there and watched... Let it happen. I saw my opportunity and I took it.” She wasn't looking in Lilith's direction anymore. Instead, Effie just looked off into the distance, like turning her head and actually glancing at her would be physically painful.

That was certainly more than she was expecting, but probably not as shocking to her as Effie was scared of. “I told you about Adam didn't I? The kids' dad? He was a true son of a bitch. Angry, handsy... Way too rough with them, and with me.” She shook her head with a soft sigh, not really happy to be thinking back on that asshole. But it felt important to share this moment with her friend. “One weekend, the kids were at a friend's house and it was just the two of us having dinner that night. And whoopsie-daisie I forgot that he was allergic to cumin and I just put... so much of it into his dish. And of course as soon as he starts to choke, I go rushing here and there all over the house looking for an epi-pen. I could have sworn I had the damn thing in a really obvious place! Of course, it had actually ended up in the trash a week before! So...” She suddenly realized she was laughing, and Effie was laughing right along with her, hand resting on her arm, so casually. “So, hah, there I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Acting like I care about saving his life, putting all this work into an alibi that probably didn't even matter!” They were both cackling now, absolutely lost to the insanity of this conversation.

She stifled herself with some more wine, and as the two of them came down from their laughing fits, Lilith subtly fitted their hands together. She laced their fingers together. Both their faces were tinted red now, cheeks hot. If Effie thought this was absurd, she didn't say it. Instead, she just glanced around her, and for the first time that evening showed some distress. “I ahh... It will be kind of strange, living in this house alone.”

This seemed like the best possible time to make an attempt. Even if Lilith knew this could backfire completely. “Y'know, the boys in college, Jessa in beautician school, I've been getting that whole... Empty Nest Syndrome thing. You're free to spend as much time as you like at my place. In fact, I'm going to have to insist.”

Effie's eyebrows went up as she eyed her more curiously now. “So, for instance, if I wanted to say... spend the night tonight?”

“Why I'd have to insist,” she replied, finishing the thought handily. Lifting up her wine glass, the two joined in a small toast. “To... black widows, I suppose.”

“To black widows.”

* * *

Within a month, Effie had made the move just around the cul de sac into Lilith's home. It wasn't as though she had all that much she absolutely needed to bring with her. Percival had filled the place with trophies – animal heads and stuffed dead things. And while some of them were quite well-made, they were all morbid in a way she didn't appreciate. A dead husband was worthwhile. But what use was there in killing so many deer?

Ultimately, things had been rather chaste beyond that first night, much to Effie's distress. They'd shared their deep dark secrets, held hands, moved in together. She sort of thought that things would just magically... _happen_ at that point. Wasn't that how true happiness worked? It just worked!

Still, this was at least a kind of happiness. Where the two of them shared a home together, split chores, split cooking. It was really freaking good.

But still, maybe Effie was hoping for a bit... more. And it didn't get any easier when the holidays rolled around and suddenly the house was filled with Lilith's 'little spiders' home on break. Which was wonderful, of course. They were all so full of energy, swapping war stories. Russell was even letting Jessa do his hair and make-up. They ran around, calling her 'auntie Effie' like she'd always been a part of the family. Maybe it had her in a bit of a romantic mood.

The house was decorated, everyone had headed to bed, things were all quiet. And after coming upstairs, Effie decided not to go to the guest room she'd been living in. Instead, she turned and went to the other side of the hall, toward Lilith's room. The door was open, the woman on her bed, reading quietly by lamplight. Her eyes flicked up over the edge of the book when she heard her approaching. Almost immediately her lips curled into that familiar smirk. “What can I do for you, darling?”

She had been trying again and again to find some way to put all this into words. But that had turned out to be much harder than she realized. And in the moment, she made a snap decision to stop worrying about words so much. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her. Then, after a moment's thought, she locked it as well. Effie strolled around the bed in what she hoped was a communicative way, but probably just looked like an awkward fawn. But it was too late to turn back now, so she slipped onto the space next to her, gently retrieving the copy of A Christmas Carol out of her hands and setting it aside. Again, the goal was to do so in an alluring way, but she was fully aware that her execution was likely 'off'. Still, if Lilith had any complaints, she wasn't voicing them.

“You still haven't answered my question, love. What can I do for you?”

Effie sighed and shuffled in closer, grabbing for the other woman's face. “You can do what you should have done weeks ago.” She greedily pulled Lilith in for a desperate kiss.

And Lilith happily provided it. You might never have known looking at her, but it turned out that she was quite a passionate woman. Almost instantly, Lilith's lips were parted and their tongues were mingling. In one fluid motion, Effie suddenly found herself on her back with the other woman on top of her, wrists lightly pinned to the bed beneath her. “To be clear, I was just waiting for you to ask. So I'm fairly certain it's all your fault that this took so long...”

She suddenly felt teeth lightly sinking into her neck, and Effie gave a long, low moan. This was much closer to what she'd expected. Hell, this was what she wished her marriage had been like. Instead of something so empty and lifeless, to actually feel wanted and lusted after. It was so new, and so delightful. “Damn, should have said something that night at my place; that I wanted to sleep in your bed, not just your home.

With a level of calm and professionalism, Lilith was already reaching into her nightstand to retrieve a small collection of toys and rope, things Effie had most definitely never experienced before. Though she was plenty excited to learn. Once she had retrieved the desired objects, she brought her full attention back on her friend. “You said it eventually. That's the really important thing. We're here now.” Lilith kissed her forehead and smiled lovingly.

* * *

Needless to say, that next morning when everyone was tearing open their presents, the two women sat on the couch, cuddled up together. And you wouldn't have been able to pry them apart with a crowbar.


End file.
